Yu Xian had always assumed that the arm taken by Zhou Tai Three was long gone.
Either Zhou Tai Three had discarded it to rot away, or wild beasts in the desolate mountains had devoured it.
He never expected that Zhou Tai Three would actually graft the arm onto his original body. Even though Yu Xian couldn't fathom the logic behind it, he was now deeply grateful for what Zhou Tai Three had done.
Through Zhou Tai No. 2's body, Yu Xian quickly confirmed that the Final Origin Blood could indeed control other living beings. Any creature controlled by the Origin Blood became his blood scion.
A blood scion would obey his commands unconditionally.
Under the effects of the Final Origin Blood, even without his direct manipulation, a blood scion would act in his best interests.
Furthermore, he had a total of seven slots for blood scions he could directly control regardless of distance, precisely corresponding to the seven apertures of the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart.
Right now, the Final Origin Blood from one of those apertures was continuously being transmitted across the void into this severed arm on Zhou Tai No. 2. Through this aperture, he could project his will across space and effortlessly seize control of Zhou Tai No. 2's body.
Fortunately, he had illuminated the Super Brain beforehand, so dividing his attention between two tasks wouldn't cause any delays.
While his true body continued drinking blood back at the perfect creature factory, his mind steered Zhou Tai No. 2's body like a remote-controlled car, reading through Zhou Tai No. 2's memories.
"As expected, foreign forces were involved back then."
"The Ancient Sages Society... an organization purely pursuing power?"
"Every member takes an ancient sage as a codename: the Thirteenth Seat is Abe no Seimei, the Twelfth Seat is Plato, the Eleventh Seat is Van Gogh..."
Yu Xian browsed through Zhou Tai No. 2's memories, feeling somewhat bewildered. Was Abe no Seimei even an ancient sage?
He was better classified as a mystic or a charlatan.
Well, whatever.
After all, the Thirteenth Seat was Japanese, so using Abe no Seimei as a codename wasn't particularly surprising.
"But does the Eleventh Seat have something wrong in the head? Using the name of a painter who suffered from manic depression as a codename—how is that considered an ancient sage?"
Unfortunately, Zhou Tai No. 2 was only an outer member and had only ever met these three members of the Ancient Sages Society. As for who stood above them, he had no idea.
If Zhou Tai No. 2 possessed information on every member of the Ancient Sages Society, Yu Xian would have immediately gathered experts from Qilin headquarters to round them all up in one fell swoop.
Given the current situation, his only option was to let Zhou Tai No. 2 remain undercover within the Ancient Sages Society, developing blood scions while investigating further information about the organization.
After finishing reading Zhou Tai No. 2's memories, Yu Xian returned control of the body to him.
"O great Lord! Your humble blood scion Number Two pays homage to you! Number Two will serve you wholeheartedly! Your greatness surpasses the radiance of the sun and moon! I wish I could fly to your side this very instant, to run errands for you and devote myself entirely to your service until my dying breath!"
The moment Zhou Tai No. 2 regained control of his body, he dropped to his knees in wild excitement, muttering to himself with a perverse expression.
Back in his true body, Yu Xian was in the middle of drinking blood when Zhou Tai No. 2's shameless flattery gave him full-body goosebumps. He hastily ordered Zhou Tai No. 2 through the Final Origin Blood to stop, forbidding him from ever doing that again.
*A degenerate is still a degenerate, even under the influence of the Final Origin Blood...*
Yu Xian waited for Zhou Tai No. 2 to stand up, unable to stop himself from grumbling inwardly. Thank goodness he had only controlled one degenerate; having several of them would be horrifying just to imagine.
Next, under his command, Zhou Tai No. 2 exited the room and walked with familiar ease toward the laboratory.
Upon entering the laboratory, row upon row of massive cages came into view. Various behemoths were confined within them, their brains entirely controlled by brain-hugging neural worms. Under the manipulation of the worms, their bodies were currently unearthing the latent power within their bloodlines.
"Is this... the giant wolf Fenrir from Western mythology?"
Looking through Zhou Tai No. 2's eyes at an absurdly massive wolf inside one of the cages, Yu Xian mused silently.
"Number Two, what are you doing here?" The giant wolf suddenly turned toward Zhou Tai No. 2 outside the cage and asked.
Zhou Tai No. 2 smiled. "Nothing much. I was just bored and dropped by to look. How much of the giant wolf Fenrir's power have you awakened?"
"Around three percent. The bloodline power is simply too faint, after all," the giant wolf replied without suspicion.
Zhou Tai No. 2 nodded and said no more. Instead, he walked toward another cage, which contained an immortal phoenix cloaked in blazing flames.
"Number Two, am I pretty? I feel like I could burn everything to cinders. I really want to set something on fire," the immortal phoenix said immediately upon seeing Zhou Tai No. 2 approach.
Zhou Tai No. 2 frowned. "Number Three, you'd better act more steady. Now isn't the time to fool around. How much of the immortal phoenix's power have you awakened?"
"Tch, hypocrite. I'm way more capable than Old Eight! I've already awakened ten percent of the immortal phoenix's power. Soon, I'll be able to go play with that handsome young brother." The immortal phoenix flapped its wings, manipulating flames to swirl around itself as it spoke excitedly.
Zhou Tai No. 2 asked placidly, "Is the 'young brother' you speak of the owner of this arm?"
"Of course. That's my trophy—don't you go losing it." Zhou Tai Three lowered its massive avian head and stared at Zhou Tai No. 2.
Zhou Tai No. 2 nodded. "Rest assured, I will take good care of your trophy."
"Go talk some sense into Old Three. He can barely hold back, constantly clamoring to butcher the city. Silver City is so much fun—why butcher it?" Zhou Tai Three nodded in satisfaction, then said to Zhou Tai No. 2.
The "Old Three" he mentioned was actually Zhou Tai Nine.
Zhou Tai No. 2 nodded and walked onward. The other cages likewise held various mythological monsters. Although only a fraction of their bloodlines' latent power had been unearthed, many of their characteristics were already extremely pronounced.
Finally, Zhou Tai No. 2 stopped before an ultra-massive cage, inside of which coiled an unimaginably colossal white serpent.
The Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr!
Through Zhou Tai No. 2's memories, Yu Xian understood the story behind this.
The one currently controlling this body was Zhou Tai Nine—the white ape that had originally been captured by Silver City's hunting squad and sent to perform in the Beast Arena.
Zhou Tai Nine possessed an overbearing, autocratic nature and immense pride.
He regarded his past experience as the greatest humiliation of his life, one that could only be erased by bathing Silver City in blood.
"Number Two, you want to dissuade me?" Zhou Tai Nine asked in a gruff voice upon seeing Zhou Tai No. 2 appear outside his cage.
Zhou Tai No. 2 shook his head. "Not at all. I just wanted to see your awakening progress."
"How could mediocre fools like them ever compare to me? I've already awakened thirty-five percent of the Midgard Serpent Jörmungandr's power!" Zhou Tai Nine said proudly.
Thirty-five percent!
He indeed had the right to be proud.
A cruel glint flickered in Zhou Tai Nine's eyes as he spoke, "I might as well tell you: once I awaken fifty percent of Jörmungandr's power, I will head to Silver City to wash away the humiliation I suffered back then. When that time comes, nobody will be able to stop me—not you, and not the Ancient Sages Society!"
"Then I wish you the best of luck!" Zhou Tai No. 2 said with a smile.
Yu Xian now knew Zhou Tai Nine's plan in advance. When the beast actually arrived, Qilin would simply gain one more test subject.
Chapter 115